Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

When do we start airlifting the women and children out of Texas?

Bark louder, little dog.

We’ve had enough carrots to last a lifetime. break out the sticks.

I’d like to think you all would remain faithful to me if i ever tried to have some of you killed.

Today’s GOP: why go just far enough when too far is right there?

You cannot shame the shameless.

This really is a full service blog.

A sufficient plurality of insane, greedy people can tank any democratic system ever devised, apparently.

I did not have telepathic declassification on my 2022 bingo card.

Presidents are not kings, and Plaintiff is not President.

Just because you believe it, that doesn’t make it true.

It’s always darkest before the other shoe drops.

The revolution will be supervised.

Why did Dr. Oz lose? well, according to the exit polls, it’s because Fetterman won.

Let me eat cake. The rest of you could stand to lose some weight, frankly.

I did not have this on my fuck 2022 bingo card.

… riddled with inexplicable and elementary errors of law and fact

Thanks to your bullshit, we are now under siege.

In my day, never was longer.

Black Jesus loves a paper trail.

Republican obstruction dressed up as bipartisanship. Again.

Only Democrats have agency, apparently.

“Jesus paying for the sins of everyone is an insult to those who paid for their own sins.”

A Senator Walker would be an insult to the state and the nation.

You are here: Home / The Right Question

The Right Question

by | 181 Comments

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Charles Blow, today:

Mitt Romney keeps showing America who he is. When will we start to believe him?

Mitt’s reveal, illustrated:

(PS:  I’m deeply under the gun with work these days, so despite the target rich environment, I won’t be able to get back to my TL;DR kind of posting for a while.   Not sure if that’s a good or bad thing but its my thing.)

Image:  Francisco de Goya, Saturn Eating His Son, 1819-1823

Reader Interactions

181Comments

  1. 1.

    Patricia Kayden

    What a completely scary and disturbing painting!! Shudder. Fits well with the post though. LOL.

  2. 2.

    R-Jud

    That image perfectly illustrates how I feel about this article I’m editing, which includes copious use of “leverage” as a verb.

    DESTROY.

  6. 6.

    R-Jud

    @Tom Levenson: No. I’m conceptualizing a methodology for leveraging the nearest resistance training implement in my locality with which to impact the writer, though.

    This 20kg kettlebell should do it.

  7. 7.

    TheMightyTrowel

    @Tom Levenson: Either way the results show that the author is moving from strength to strength.

    Also: Tom, Courage! Work is kicking my ass too this month!

  8. 8.

    quannlace

    What a completely scary and disturbing painting!! Shudder. Fits well with the post though. LOL.

    I remember reading that Goya had that painting hung in his dining room. That dude had a dark sense of humor.

  12. 12.

    Tom Levenson

    @peach flavored shampoo: Sorry about that.

    But I’ve been waiting for an opportunity to use this one since I started blogging. Romney finally left me with no excuses. For which, if I may borrow a phrase, no apologies. ;)

    [note the flip flop in this post? An homage to the man!]

  15. 15.

    HRA

    In ancient Roman religion and myth, Saturn (Latin: Saturnus) was a god of agriculture, liberation, and time…

    His Greek counterpart was Cronus.

  16. 16.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist and Fact Checker

    Watching Jim Vande Hei (Politico’s Number 2 Jughead) on Tweety last week, calmly assuring everyone that Mitt Romney was really a moderate, and would revert to his true inner Eisenhower (my words, not his) once elected. Poolboy may be a Junior League Villager, but I’m pretty sure he’s old enough to have heard, and said, the same thing said about the nitwit who brought us Iraq, the Roberts-ScAlito Court, torture, a financial crash, and Katrina. These people should all be scrubbing toilets in VA hospitals and homeless shetlers.

  17. 17.

    eric

    i am be alienated from my true consciousness today and tomorrow, but hopefully, leisure on saturday will return my humors to normal.

  20. 20.

    gene108

    It’s not Romney showing us, who he really is, it’s the core of Republican values getting the spotlight it deserves via the stylings of Willard Mitt Romney.

    There’s only so far you can go to actually be appealing, when your entire philosophy is make the rich richer and let the rest of the poor slobs fend for themselves.

    We may have not reached peak wignut (if that’s even possible), but we have reached the point that Republicans can no longer sell themselves as anything but heartless rich pricks on a national level.

  23. 23.

    jibeaux

    reflection and confession: About 4 years ago — because after an election don’t we all start talking about the next election? — my analysis of a Romney run was exactly wrong. Not knowing him that well (also this was before the “severe conservative” tack), I thought he could possibly win the presidency if he could ever make it to the general, but that he’d never get past the primary because it’s a den of loonies too dense to consider electability as a plus. Anyway, I had it backwards and I just think that’s interesting. But can I tell you how happy it makes me that the primary voters actually did choose based on electability and now we’ve got pundits openly talking about how he should step down so they can have a do-over?

  24. 24.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist and Fact Checker

    @Forum Transmitted Disease: not to get to Politico-y, but when your best surrogates are some of the nasties right-wingers of early 1990s (Sununu, Gollum Matalin, Bay Buchanan), Boston, you have a problem.

  25. 25.

    WereBear

    @quannlace: I remember reading that Goya had that painting hung in his dining room. That dude had a dark sense of humor.

    I’m sure it kept the guests from eating all the dessert.

    I am pleased that enough of the American people have fled the superficially charming but loathsomely selfish embrace of W, a romance that turned out so horribly. And enough of them continue to resist the Old_Man_Wandering embrace of McCain and his trophy Veep, and now, they just don’t think the Sugar Daddy charms of Mittens will make up for the sick things he will ask us to do in that opulently decorated bedroom.

    Romney is the best they have.

    I agree that Faux News is largely responsible. Hoist on their own petard, as it were.

  26. 26.

    eric

    @WereBear: well, now that Romney 5.1 is dropping out and is being replaced by Romney 6.0, i think it is more accurate to say Romney 6.0 is the best they have until the beta testing is complete

  27. 27.

    GregB

    Most of the GOP thinks that what Romney said should be the main message.

    Romney and Ryan are empty husks of humans who represent an ideology of moral bankruptcy and the worship of money.

    May they suffer a humiliating defeat.

  28. 28.

    Violet

    That painting is perfect. I actually laughed out loud. I know it’s awful, it fits Mitt so exactly.

    Someone linked this below. Cracked me right up:

    Showrunner JJ Abrams Promises Inexplicable Inconsistencies, Glaring Logic Problems Will All Be Explained in Satisfying Series Finale to “Romney”

    and

    Melissa Faber, the bestselling author of “Mittstery: A Guide to the Romnillogical World of the Romney Show,” is not sold on Cory’s theory. “The body snatcher school of thought just doesn’t go far enough in explaining the inconsistencies that exist in the physical world,” she offered, “I mean the Ryan Budget exists. It’s like a physical thing. And it’s supposed to be brilliant and wonky but the numbers in it don’t make any sense according to any math we know … It’s like a Rosetta Stone to the whole show, I think: it balances the budget by not balancing the budget. And that’s not possible: at least not in our reality.”

    Hilarious, if you followed any of Lost or the Lost obsession or are a JJ Abrams fan.

  33. 33.

    Trooptrap Tripetrope

    John Cleese via Twitter, a couple of hours ago: “Remember this. Romney was selected by the republicans because he gave them the best chance they had of winning. That’s very funny.”

  34. 34.

    Ms. D. Ranged in AZ

    This painting has always evoked a very visceral reaction. I saw it in person at the Museo del Prado in Madrid and was blown away. The actual painting is so powerful it’s hard to describe. Very cool but very frightening at the same time. And I agree, it is the perfect metaphor for Mittens and the monied class who are more concerned about retaining power than they are about the basic survival of the rest of us.

  35. 35.

    ThatLeftTurnInABQ

    @gene108:

    It’s not Romney showing us, who he really is, it’s the core of Republican values getting the spotlight it deserves via the stylings of Willard Mitt Romney.

    __
    This.

    The reason the Romney campaign sucks like a vintage Hoover is that the Republican base won’t let him put on a genial mask and pretend to be something they hate: a moderate. Extremism in defense of liberty loonies has nowhere to hide.

  36. 36.

    jwb

    About all that unlimited cash: Romney seems to be having money problems. His campaign is not broke, but the campaign is shockingly short of money that it controls:

    One major reason appears to be that Mr. Romney’s campaign finances have been significantly less robust than recent headlines would suggest. Much of the more than $300 million the campaign reported raising this summer is earmarked for the Republican National Committee, state Republican organizations and Congressional races, limiting the money Mr. Romney’s own campaign has to spend.

  37. 37.

    rlrr

    @Face:

    Also this (from the same link):

    *** When leaving out part of the tape… : But here’s something else about those 1998 remarks from Obama — they’re not the whole story. As NBC’s Mike O’Brien reported last night, the actual video of the 1998 “redistribution” comment by Obama shows the then-state senator speaking about “competition” and “the marketplace” in his VERY NEXT sentence. In the whole clip, Obama says: “I think the trick is figuring out how do we structure government systems that pool resources and hence facilitate some redistribution because I actually believe in redistribution, at least at a certain level to make sure that everybody’s got a shot.” Then he adds,” How do we pool resources at the same time as we decentralize delivery systems in ways that both foster competition, can work in the marketplace, and can foster innovation at the local level and can be tailored to particular communities.” The second sentence could have been uttered by Bill Clinton or another former member of the DLC.

  38. 38.

    ericblair

    @eric:

    well, now that Romney 5.1 is dropping out and is being replaced by Romney 6.0, i think it is more accurate to say Romney 6.0 is the best they have until the beta testing is complete

    Oh goodie, they’re rolling out a major revision upgrade right to the production environment without any testing, just before a critical event. Historically, This Has Not Gone Well.

  39. 39.

    jwb

    @Face: I heard Romney talking more moderately about immigration on NPR this morning. I’ve been wondering if this is Mittwit’s new strategy to alienate the 27% since he’s done such an excellent job alienating everyone else.

  40. 40.

    Michael2

    Don Draper: “People tell us who they are, but we ignore it because we want them to be who we want them to be.”

    It does seem that perhaps at least one or two folks are no longer ignoring it. And that is progress.

  41. 41.

    Todd

    @jwb:

    His campaign is not broke, but the campaign is shockingly short of money that it controls

    Actually, that sounds a great deal like modern capitalism in general and buzzard finance in particular: grossly inflate the number of dollars you control for the sake of appearing like a winner (thereby becoming a magnet for sucker money), cash out on the sucker money, and then leave the smoking crater of your failure for somebody else to clean up.

  42. 42.

    Shawn in ShowMe

    Mitt Romney keeps showing America who he is. When will we start to believe him?

    Is he the pro-choice moderate who ran against Ted Kennedy? Is he the soshu-list governor who instituted universal health care? Is he risk-averse pol from the Republican debates? Is he the girly man who begged the Obama campaign to stop punching him in the face? Is the swaggering tough guy who undermines American efforts abroad to calm hostilities?

    The answer, of course, is yes. But most of us are wired to only accept one personality at a time. The most popular actors in our culture usually play the same role, movie after movie. If you’re going to play such a wide range of roles, you better have the emotional range. Mitt Romney is no Gary Oldman.

  43. 43.

    Todd

    @jwb:

    i heard Romney talking more moderately about immigration on NPR this morning. I’ve been wondering if this is Mittwit’s new strategy to alienate the 27% since he’s done such an excellent job alienating everyone else.

    Too late for it to do good. The asshole should have been making that pivot during his acceptance speech.

  45. 45.

    Dennis SGMM

    Willard’s obvious discomfort, his failure to do much campaigning is caused by the fact that as soon as he steps off of the stage his handlers have to stuff a ball gag in his mouth lest he start screaming “You peasants don’t deserve me! I am The One! not that Ni-clang! ME! ME! ME!”

  47. 47.

    hep kitty

    Anybody see the one w/ Bush, back in the day? It was printed on the back of a Nation issue, back in the day when I was getting the actual magazine.

  49. 49.

    Dennis SGMM

    @rlrr:

    Also Romney offered no specifics (other than military service being a pathway), only that he would seek a long term solution…

    Now there’s a real businesslike plan, complete with stated goals and benchmarks.

  50. 50.

    The Ancient Randonneur

    David Corn, in an appearance on Democracy Now!, made a point that jumped out at me. Others may have made it already but it is something I haven’t seen written about elsewhere. In most public appearances Romney generally doesn’t show much passion or conviction in his speeches. In the hidden tape video you can hear that passion and conviction in his voice AND he did it in front of a room that had “the help” in it. In other words he didn’t seem one bit concerned that some of the 47% were in the room. They were invisible.

  51. 51.

    jwb

    @Todd: Oh, but that’s the genius of his timing here: he has little hope of persuading the independents and moderates at this point, but still plenty of time to piss off the 27%. How is that not the winningest of strategies? PROFIT!

  52. 52.

    joes527

    @jwb: I think that if left to stand Citizens United will be a very bad thing, but it looks like for this election cycle it is a total clusterfuck for the Republicans.

    The promise of unlimited money as far as the eye could see has given way to the reality that without control, the money is all just sloshing around, all in the wrong place, and probably doing more harm than good.

    Don’t get me wrong, the forces of evil will get their shit together eventually to take advantage if CU. Just not this election. What a shame.

  54. 54.

    piratedan

    with the Romney Campaign struggling they have to be aware that Bain Capital can swoop in, procure it in a leveraged buyout and layoff some staffers, replace middle management and then sell off the profitable parts, like the fundraisers and leave a smoking ruin in their wake….

  57. 57.

    Tonal Crow

    Are we finally catching on to The Big Lie that is the Republican Party? I sure hope so.

    Oh yeah, time to feed Obama’s kitty again. Meeee-ow!

  58. 58.

    Shawn in ShowMe

    @rlrr:

    “Drummond, you’re employing black children as house servants? I didn’t know you were such a progressive!”

  61. 61.

    jwb

    @joes527: Well, if the forces of evil were smart, they’d be rapidly shifting all their resources to the Dems at this point to ensure they have a place at the table. Actually, smart evil would never placed its bet on the Tea Party to begin with. Smart evil does much better backing moderates and getting its way behind the scenes in legislative committee.

  65. 65.

    beltane

    @The Ancient Randonneur: The venom with which he uttered “they think they’re entitled to food, medicine, shelter, you name it.” was truly astounding. It’s like the prospect of starving workers to death is the only thing that get this guy’s juices flowing. I mean, if the parasites are demanding food what will they demand next, clean drinking water? The horrors.

    The Democratic party has spent the past four decades attempting to explain the GOP’s real agenda to the American public. These attempts have been largely futile. But then the FSM sends us a candid video of a snarling, Scrooge-like Mittbot doing what no Democratic consultant has managed to do in all these years: show us what the Republican party really is.

    Mittbot explains it all even better than Bill Clinton did. Thank you Mittbot.

  69. 69.

    Ben Franklin

    @Litlebritdifrnt:

    From his keyboard to the FSM’s ears.

    Republicans seem to value Congress more, unless they can gerrymander their own figure-headed POTUS. It makes sense they’ve thrown in the towel, and will double-down on derailing Obama in a 2nd term

  70. 70.

    ThatLeftTurnInABQ

    @rlrr:

    Shorter T-Paw:

    When you’re weary
    Feeling small
    When tears are in your eyes
    I will dry them all


    I’m on your side
    When times get rough
    And friends just can’t be found
    Like a bridge over troubled water
    I will lay me down


    Or maybe NOT. Have the checks cleared yet?
    Good. I’m out of here then. Good luck suckers.

  72. 72.

    Ben Franklin

    @jwb:

    From the link…The probability of retained Democratic control is 88%.

    However, there is also the possibility that the current bounce is transient. In this case, polls will drift back toward the Republicans, in which case the probability could be as low as 60% based on last week’s data.

    I’ll take those odds, but this is a very hinky election year. I’m not sure any of the historical models apply.

  74. 74.

    Todd

    @jwb:

    Well, if the forces of evil were smart, they’d be rapidly shifting all their resources to the Dems at this point to ensure they have a place at the table. Actually, smart evil would never placed its bet on the Tea Party to begin with. Smart evil does much better backing moderates and getting its way behind the scenes in legislative committee.

    Ah, to be able to hear the calls to Dick Armey, Karl Rove and Grover Norquist right now.

    “You stupid asshole, you had me go all in on this election, and Romney is going to get curb stomped. Now, I’m going to be fucked and have to play nice, which is going to cost me a fuckton.”

    Maybe they hope to persuade Netflix, Apple TV and the cable companies that offer on demand programming to run political ads on each thing watched….

  77. 77.

    Roger Moore

    @jwb:

    Romney seems to be having money problems.

    This is something that people have actually been predicting. Romney’s fundraising strength has been having a few very wealthy donors, but no matter how much money they have, they aren’t allowed to give more than $5000 directly to the campaign. People smarter than me were saying he was going to tap out those $5000 contributions pretty quickly and then have trouble getting more money into his campaign. Now it looks as if he’s been lying about how much he was raising by counting contributions to other funds that aren’t in his control. Romney lying about money: there’s a shocker!

  78. 78.

    Todd

    @beltane:

    The venom with which he uttered “they think they’re entitled to food, medicine, shelter, you name it.” was truly astounding. It’s like the prospect of starving workers to death is the only thing that get this guy’s juices flowing. I mean, if the parasites are demanding food what will they demand next, clean drinking water? The horrors.

    First Collector: At this festive time of year, Mr. Scrooge, it is more than usually desirable that we should make some slight provision for the poor and destitute.
    Ebenezer: Are there no prisons?
    First Collector: Plenty of prisons.
    Ebenezer: And the union workhouses – are they still in operation?
    First Collector: They are. I wish I could say they were not.
    Ebenezer: Oh, from what you said at first I was afraid that something had happened to stop them in their useful course. I’m very glad to hear it.
    First Collector: I don’t think you quite understand us, sir. A few of us are endeavoring to buy the poor some meat and drink, and means of warmth.
    Ebenezer: Why?
    First Collector: Because it is at Christmastime that want is most keenly felt, and abundance rejoices. Now what can I put you down for?
    Ebenezer: Huh! Nothing!
    Second Collector: You wish to be anonymous?
    Ebenezer: [firmly, but calmly] I wish to be left alone. Since you ask me what I wish sir, that is my answer. I help to support the establishments I have named; those who are badly off must go there.

  79. 79.

    Jay C

    @Violet:

    I am a JJ Abrams fan, and thought those comments were referring to “Fringe”. Which, come to think of it, is as appropriate a title for the Romney/Ryan campaign as “Lost”…

  80. 80.

    Roger Moore

    @Litlebritdifrnt: @jwb:
    Those numbers are actually pretty close to the ones “Ben Franklin” was showing. They all seem to be estimating right around 50 D, 48 R, 2 I (who will probably caucus D). Not great for the Democrats, but a heck of a lot better than it was a month ago.

  81. 81.

    gene108

    @beltane:

    The Democratic party has spent the past four decades attempting to explain the GOP’s real agenda to the American public. These attempts have been largely futile. But then the FSM sends us a candid video of a snarling, Scrooge-like Mittbot doing what no Democratic consultant has managed to do in all these years: show us what the Republican party really is.

    For the last 40 years, Republicans weren’t always this callous.

    Nixon implemented the EPA.

    Bush, Sr. signed into law the ADA, FMLA (if I remember correctly), and cap-and-trade legislation to (successfully) combat acid rain in the Midwest.

    Bush, Jr. expanded Medicare and signed Sarbanes-Oxley into law.

    Sure they were about the rich getting a bigger cut of the pie than the rest of America, but they weren’t overtly trying to bring us back to a Victorian-era-Social-Darwinist type society.

    That changed in 2010 and is on display in 2012 for the nation to see.

    I’m personally waiting for Obamacare to come into full effect in 2014, because I’m hoping enough people get helped by it that by 2016 Democrats can hang it around the necks of the Republicans, which may be the final straw that forces the Republicans to tell the 27% to STFU and quit costing us elections.

  83. 83.

    jwb

    @Ben Franklin: I agree that this seems to be a very peculiar election. On the other hand, the political operatives of both parties seem to be acting more in line with PEC’s reading of the polls than with the media-driven horse race, “this is a close election” bullshit. The scramble right now is for the House, with the GOP being desperate to keep the Senate competitive enough that the Dems have to devote substantial resources to it. The real problem with the House is that it’s by far the hardest of the bodies to handicap as to who is vulnerable—though if Paul Ryan is having to make significant ad buys in his district, you know the GOP is shitting its pants right now.

  86. 86.

    ThatLeftTurnInABQ

    @Roger Moore:

    Now it looks as if he’s been lying about how much he was raising by counting contributions to other funds that aren’t in his control. Romney lying about money: there’s a shocker!

    __
    In case we need to put another rhetorical torpedo into the side of SS Romney, just below the waterline, it might be worth pointing out to anybody who is still in doubt about how to vote that Romney and the GOP like to talk a lot about “The Debt” and claim to be fiscally responsible, but Romney’s campaign has had only one answer to every difficulty they’ve encountered so far: throw money at the problem. Romney even brags about it in that video clip: how much money they are going to spend on TV ads. That’s all they know how to do and that is their first instinct when they hit a rough patch.

    Romney runs his campaign like the cartoon caricature of the free-spending liberal who thinks money grows on trees.

  87. 87.

    gypsy howell

    @beltane:

    I absolutely love that it was Jimmy Carter’s grandson who found this RPG and fired it right into Romney’s campaign. Sweet sweet revenge.

    And justice.

    And… it’s not even October yet. In my dreams, the Obama campaign is holding off with the really good stuff against Romney and the republican party until a few weeks before the election, and it will make this plutocratic parasite’s tape seem like a blip on the campaign trail.

    Oh lord, please make it be so. I want a smoking crater where the Republican Party once fouled the earth.

  89. 89.

    gypsy howell

    @beltane:

    I absolutely love that it was Jimmy Carter’s grandson who found this RPG and fired it right into Romney’s campaign. Sweet sweet revenge.

    And justice.

    And… it’s not even October yet. In my dreams, the Obama campaign is holding off with the really good stuff against Romney and the republican party until a few weeks before the election, and it will make this plutocratic parasite’s tape seem like a blip on the campaign trail.

    Oh lord, please make it be so. I want a smoking crater where the Republican Party once fouled the earth.

  90. 90.

    Chris

    @beltane:

    This.

    I used to think he was just an empty suit play-acting at being a Republican, not someone who really believed in anything. Since the video I’ve changed my mind; on economics at least, he really does believe in it heart and soul. It can’t be an act, because he’s never put that much sincerity and passion into anything else (social issues and foreign policy).

  91. 91.

    jwb

    @Roger Moore: Actually, they were never lying about their fundraising. I distinctly remember the announcements specifying “Romney for President/RNC.” It’s just that few were paying attention to the ratio of Romney/RNC versus Obama/DNC. Since the Obama campaign didn’t bother to point it out, I conclude that they thought it useful for their own fundraising to make it look like they were being significantly outraised (and truth be told, it’s not like that RNC money doesn’t exist, and it is undoubtedly being used on downticket races).

  93. 93.

    Todd

    @gene108:

    I’m personally waiting for Obamacare to come into full effect in 2014, because I’m hoping enough people get helped by it that by 2016 Democrats can hang it around the necks of the Republicans, which may be the final straw that forces the Republicans to tell the 27% to STFU and quit costing us elections.

    That 27% is constituted in the main by the ideological descendants of unreconstructed Confederates and their copperhead counterparts. It is a testimony to the lingering power of propaganda built grievance, and shows why LBJ was willing to gamble them away decades ago – they’re a bunch of craven assholes.

  94. 94.

    dmsilev

    @gypsy howell:

    I absolutely love that it was Jimmy Carter’s grandson who found this RPG and fired it right into Romney’s campaign. Sweet sweet revenge.

    Jon Stewart last night on that revelation: “Oh, the Habitat for Humanity!”

  101. 101.

    Roger Moore

    @Chris:

    Obama’s finally beat Romney at funding and I’d be shocked if that wasn’t why.

    According to the NY Times post jwb linked to above, Romney hasn’t actually been beating Obama at all. He’s been claiming donations that went to other Republican groups from joint fundraising as his own to inflate his numbers. Meanwhile, he’s probably tapped out most of his richest donors, who are capped at $5000 for the whole campaign no matter how much they want to donate. He isn’t going to be able to get as many of the small money donations as Obama has, so once the big donors are maxed out, he has a much tougher route forward. If you were going to write a summary of Romney’s campaign, you could do a lot worse than “live by the big donation, die by the big donation”.

  102. 102.

    Dennis SGMM

    @jwb:

    Depends on whether you believe the filibuster will survive this election. I don’t.

    That might be a bit too radical for the Senate. I do think that the requirement for cloture will be reduced to a simple majority.

  103. 103.

    Roger Moore

    @ThatLeftTurnInABQ:

    In case we need to put another rhetorical torpedo into the side of SS Romney, just below the waterline,

    I think you got right under the keel, rather than just below the waterline. Accusing Romney of being unable to do anything but throw money at the problems is a devastating attack.

  104. 104.

    Todd

    @Roger Moore:

    He’s been claiming donations that went to other Republican groups from joint fundraising as his own to inflate his numbers.

    Just like a good MBA wielding CEO/CFO type should.

    It worked for Enron, for a while at least.

  105. 105.

    Villago Delenda Est

    @Dennis SGMM:

    How does that one go? You know the one; “Something something a sinking ship.”

    “No beer and no TV make Homer something something.”

    Go crazy a sinking ship?

  107. 107.

    Roger Moore

    @Ben Franklin:
    Actually, 50 Senators is probably good enough for the Democrats, assuming they hold onto the White House. The VP is President of the Senate and casts the tie breaking vote if it’s split 50/50. So if it winds up 50/48/2 (the current prediction) and both of the independents caucus with the Republicans (unlikely), the Democrats would still scrape by with control of the Senate on Biden’s tiebreaker.

  108. 108.

    Xecky Gilchrist

    The really funny thing about the Romney campaign running out of money is that the SuperPACs will step up to fill the gap, and they’re going to be loose cannons. God only knows what they’re going to run, but I expect that, for rhetorical subtlety, they’ll be along the lines of zOMG THE DEMORATS ARE GOING TO MURDER US ALL IN OUR BEDS AND ONLY DUCTAPE AND PLASTIC SHEETING CAN SAVE US.

  109. 109.

    Violet

    @GregB:

    Romney is Ebenezer Scrooge.

    Someone with Photoshop ability needs to get on this. Maybe even video. Which President should be the Ghost of Christmas Past?

    @Jay C:
    It may be. There’s more in the piece talking about the smoke monster, so that’s definitely from “Lost.”

  110. 110.

    jwb

    @Roger Moore: I think Romney was also presuming that the SuperPacs would cover him when he started running short of cash. It never occurred to him that his investors might abandon him. (This is also where the gaffes of the past week have really killed him, whether they have moved the polls or not: the SuperPacs were already starting to shift money down ticket after the disastrous convention and the gaffes have now destroyed all faith in his competence; barring some completely unforeseen turn of fortune that Romney manages to exploit adroitly rather than stepping on his dick, from this point out he’ll only get money and ad support that is understood to be useful to the downticket races.)

  111. 111.

    Villago Delenda Est

    @Todd:

    It’s at the heart of the con.

    Confidence. Create the illusion of confidence. The entire story of The Sting is to create the illusion of confidence and play to the greed of the mark.

    “Greed can be a powerful ally” – Qui-Gon Jinn.

    As powerful as any Jedi mind trick, as it turns out.

  112. 112.

    the Conster

    That painting played an important role in Money Never Sleeps. Josh Brolin has it over the fireplace in his den, and ends up smashing it right before he gets frog marched out for insider trading. Waiting for Money Never Sleeps Part II to come out with Josh Brolin playing Romney and something to do with The Scream.

  113. 113.

    WereBear

    Romney is the candidate of the 1%.

    That is not going to work in a democracy. Thus, the undermining of Democracy, and the lies about what the 1% have planned for us.

  114. 114.

    ThatLeftTurnInABQ

    @Roger Moore:

    Thanks, I sure hope so.

    One campaign has been careful in managing it’s finances and as a result is not in debt. The other campaign has been free-spending and reckless and is now in the red. Worth pointing out to swing voters that the Obama campaign is the one which has been run in a fiscally sound manner, and not the Romney campaign. Especially since Romney refuses to talk about his term as Gov. of Mass and refuses to release details of his so-called “plans”. So the only solid, direct piece of evidence voters have to evaluate how Romney actually runs things as a manager is to look at his disorganized, money-drunk, and now in-debt campaign.

  116. 116.

    Violet

    @Dennis SGMM:

    I’m looking forward to the tell-all books that will come out of the Romney campaign debacle.

    Romney said his favorite actor is Gene Hackman and would like Hackman to play him, when asked the question yesterday on “Live with Kelly and Michael”. I can only imagine what Hackman might do in an HBO movie, like the one they did on Palin. Heh.

  117. 117.

    Villago Delenda Est

    @Violet:

    One has to remember that the wingtards hate “A Christmas Carol” because Scrooge recants their vile dogma at the end. They’d much prefer the “Blackadder Christmas Carol” that turns the entire story upside down.

  118. 118.

    JR(Not the Other JR)

    I love how quitting the campaign to become a lobbyist for the banking industry is considered “noble work” by Money Boo Boo.

  119. 119.

    Todd

    @Violet:

    Someone with Photoshop ability needs to get on this. Maybe even video. Which President should be the Ghost of Christmas Past?

    Haven’t assigned roles yet, but I’m liking the ghost team to consist of LBJ, Nixon, FDR and Dubya.

  120. 120.

    Villago Delenda Est

    @Dennis SGMM:

    The first ones will be on the street for the holidays, as the insiders try to save their phony-baloney careers as political operatives by telling us that they told Mittens don’t go there, and he did anyways.

  121. 121.

    jwb

    @Dennis SGMM: It will depend on what the actual margins in the Senate are and how much evil is willing to spend on Dems in the marginal races. So basically evil has a choice to make: do they continue to try to give control of the Senate to the GOP but risk losing their influence if the Dems manage to hold control? or do they shift their money to the marginal Dems in order to ensure they can continue screwing up the workings in the Senate?

  122. 122.

    Violet

    @Villago Delenda Est: Yes, the problem with A Christmas Carol is that Scrooge repents. That just won’t do. But certainly leaving the impression that Romney is an unrepentant Scrooge isn’t beyond the abilities of some fine multimedia folks. I’m not one of them, but I hope someone out there is on it.

    @Todd: No Reagan in there? How about Eisenhower? You know, he of the “military industrial complex” and high tax rates and being a Republican war hero and all. He might be a good Ghost of Christmas Past.

  124. 124.

    Roger Moore

    @jwb:

    barring some completely unforeseen turn of fortune that Romney manages to exploit adroitly rather than stepping on his dick, from this point out he’ll only get money and ad support that is understood to be useful to the downticket races.

    Which strikes me as the kind of foolish thinking you get from an uncoordinated campaign. There’s good reason to think that the recent movement in the Senate and House polls reflects the weakness at the top of the ticket as much as anything. If you write Romney off, you’re basically counting on running each Senate and House campaign as a separate event, and they’re all going to be fighting the bad image of the party Romney is projecting. Even assuming Romney is toast, it might be better to spend a bunch of money propping him up to minimize his negative coattails, rather than dividing the money and spending it on a whole bunch of separate Senate and House campaigns.

  125. 125.

    Todd

    @jwb:

    or do they shift their money to the marginal Dems in order to ensure they can continue screwing up the workings in the Senate?

    This.

    The 27s are going to be sitting around in places like Missouri in late October, wondering where the Akin ad buys are.

    Wingnut tears taste really good when served neat. No ice to dilute, no bitters needed, as they’re already bitter.

  126. 126.

    ? Martin

    I think they are believing him.

    Around town and around work nobody talks politics unless you know the person really well. I know the political affiliation of my staff and my boss and that’s really about it. I know a couple of my kids friends parents, our neighbors, but that too is it. Keeping in mind that this is California, but OC, two anecdotes:

    Last night we had back to school at my son’s high school – 9th grade, so its new for us too. Bumped into lots of parents that we know but not well (moms know each other from PTA, dads meeting for the first time) and all of us being new there was a bit of bonding energy expended at each one. Several times over the course of the evening a joke was tossed out at me and others at Mitt Romney’s expense with no telling what anyones affiliation was. Everyone took the joke. That’s telling. I’ve done a few similar activities around other subsets of the school, and politics never came up before. Something changed in the last week.

    This morning, the same thing started happening at work with people that I see occassionally – one joke in line at coffee, one in the parking lot. These people I know a lot better, but only professionally – and will probably work with over the next decade or two. Nobody wants to risk denting those kinds of relationships, but nobody seems to perceive a risk any more.

    It reminds me of Halloween 2008. We were out with the kids and we get HUGE crowds of where we live – lots and lots of parents too. The night steadily turned into a pre-victory party for Obama for the adults. It was kind of strange. But everyone let their guard down – it was clear even to the Republicans that Obama was going to win, and whatever uncertainty they had about McCain/Palin could be expressed. Nobody felt divided. It was really nice.

    I think once people drop their guard, the game is up. The casual republicans aren’t trying to defend this guy. They might still vote for him, but they’re done making a case for him. If he loses, I don’t think they’re going to mind too much.

  129. 129.

    Todd

    @Violet:

    So many to choose from. LBJ for his pragmatism on civil rights, Nixon for environmental regs, Reagan for the EITC and immigration, FDR for his alleged betrayal of his class, Ike for pragmatism and leadership, Dubya for dimly recognizing that some compassion is actually a good thing, even when incompetently delivered…

  130. 130.

    dmsilev

    I’m not sure whether this Politco headline is more sad or hilarious: “Romney rescue plan: More Mitt”

  131. 131.

    ? Martin

    Release the Issa!

    Space Shuttle Endeavor To Honor Giffords With Tucson Fly-Over

    The retired orbiter is scheduled to fly over Tucson to honor former Arizona Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, who was gravely injured in a 2011 shooting at an event in her district that killed six others. Giffords’ husband is retired astronaut Mark Kelly, who commanded Endeavour’s final mission last year.

    NASA is politicized! The whole of the federal government is working for the Dems! Impeach Obambi for this shredding of the Constitution!

  132. 132.

    Villago Delenda Est

    @Roger Moore:

    Well, the Rmoney strategy for September, and they admitted this, was to sit back and let Obama make an error, which they would pounce on.

    Which happened with the Benghazi consulate attack, except that they pounced before they had all the details.

    And it boomeranged big time and smacked them upside the head, setting the stage for the next major reveal, the 47% tape.

    Obama and his team didn’t have to do a blessed thing. Do not interfere with your adversary when he makes a mistake.

  133. 133.

    Violet

    @? Martin: Yes, I know exactly what you mean. Joking about Romney is acceptable now. He’s a punchline and everyone gets the joke and laughs out loud without looking over their shoulder. When that happens, he’s toast.

    Smart money is going to recognize that the Republicans are done and will switch their money to Dems so they retain some ability to influence politics after the election.

  134. 134.

    ThatLeftTurnInABQ

    @Roger Moore:

    If you write Romney off, you’re basically counting on running each Senate and House campaign as a separate event, and they’re all going to be fighting the bad image of the party Romney is projecting.

    __
    Dems, both national and local, should be working overtime to tie local GOP candidates to Romney’s toxic coat-tails right now. Ask them repeatedly to affirm or deny whether they agree with Romney. Gov. Martinez here in NM is already running for cover re: Romney’s 47% solution remarks. Good, let’s have more of that, it will only infuriate the 27% and make it more likely that they stay home on election day. Message discipline has always been a core GOP strength, now is the time to hit it with a sledgehammer. A GOP that can’t hang together will hang seperately.

  135. 135.

    ? Martin

    Boy, when you’re running for Hedge-Fund Manager in Chief, losing Club for Growth really ought to tell you something.

  136. 136.

    dmsilev

    @Violet: I saw that too; out at the theater last night, a noticeable amount of the background chatter of the people around me was dissing on Romney (including one person who said “I almost feel sorry for him at this point”). It’s Chicago, so hardly a swing state, but the theater crowd includes a fair number of well-heeled suburbanites, the sort of folks who one might expect to be pro-Mittens.

  141. 141.

    ? Martin

    @dmsilev: It would be worth it to see the RNC grab all of his funds, drop $100M in debt on Romney to keep his campaign going, and outsource all of his staff to more competitive races. I don’t think we’re that lucky, though.

  144. 144.

    LanceThruster

    @quannlace:

    I feel it fits with in a food related theme. Wonder what sort of still lifes he had. On that note since there are so many knowledgeable people here on a variety of subjects…what is the most valuable still life with a bowl of fruit?

    I have wax fruit candles in a glass bowl with raised relief fruit motif I’m clearly going with a 3-D depiction with an end-of-the-world societal breakdown sensibility. All elements were from the dollar store in keeping with an overall poverty theme.

  145. 145.

    dmsilev

    @? Martin: A restructuring is clearly in order. The entity has substantial assets but is underperforming largely due to a failure in senior leadership.

    Does the Romney campaign have a pension fund we can loot?

  146. 146.

    Roger Moore

    @Villago Delenda Est:

    Which happened with the Benghazi consulate attack, except that they pounced before they had all the details.

    Like a cat stalking its own tail, yes. I think the optimum strategy for the Republicans from this point out would involve damage control on the Romney campaign- keep him from stepping on his own dick again and try to build him back up to be an acceptable representative of the party- with some very focused SuperPAC ad buys in critical Senate and House races. The goal is to keep the national campaign from sinking the local campaigns while winning enough down-ticket races to maintain control over at least one house of Congress. I don’t think they can do it- nobody can tell Romney how to run his own campaign, and the SuperPACs aren’t going to coordinate well enough to make it work- but that seems like their best shot.

  148. 148.

    ThatLeftTurnInABQ

    @? Martin:

    The casual republicans aren’t trying to defend this guy. They might still vote for him, but they’re done making a case for him.

    __
    I’m having similar experiences. The office wingnuts have been very quiet of late. Politics, what’s that? Let’s talk football.. And a very apolitical mildly right-of-center friend I’ve known for years shocked me with the vehemance of his language regarding the Republicans when the election came up as a conversational topic recently: words like “total assholes” and “traitors” were used. I had to pick my jaw up off the floor.

  149. 149.

    jl

    I see that TPM is covering Romney campaign use of forced labor in campaign ad on front page. Would be nice if this story made it big. Been a lull in Romney disasters lately. Been at least three or four days. These Mitt slackers are getting lazy and not producing material.

    There’s that old show biz saying: get new material or get a new audience.

    Romney Ad Features Coal Miners Allegedly Required To Attend Campaign Event
    http://2012.talkingpointsmemo.com/2012/09/romney-coal-miners-ad.php

  150. 150.

    jwb

    @ThatLeftTurnInABQ: I’ve noticed this on FB and Twitter as well: feeds of friends and those I follow who never post political stuff are now doing so at Romney’s expense. Nobody likes the Mittwit.

  152. 152.

    Enhanced Mooching Techniques

    @Villago Delenda Est: That must be a glorious bit of the same logic that makes “Born in the USA” about American Exceptionalism. Sure Rowan Atkinson thought he was being sarcastic, but wingnuts just know better.

  153. 153.

    Geeno

    @quannlace: I now have a dire NEED to have this painting in my dining room. That is too perfect (like i could afford it – hah!). Okay, I have a kinda dark sense of humor, too.

  155. 155.

    Strontium 90

    @? Martin: Martin – I noticed this exact phenomenon at work this week as well. The lack of yard signs and bumper stickers for the Republicans is really telling. I live in safe GOP house seat part of Houston – 4 years ago, yard signs and bumper stickers were everywhere probably 55/45% for McCain. Now? a moderate amount of Obama (nothing like ’08 though) and near zero for Romney…

  156. 156.

    Gin & Tonic

    @Violet:

    Romney said his favorite actor is Gene Hackman and would like Hackman to play him

    Playing Willard with all the warmth and empathy of Harry Coyle. I love the image. Willard sitting alone afetr ripping up the floorboards of his La Jolla house.

  157. 157.

    Frankensteinbeck

    @beltane:
    The Reagan Revolution was a congenial old man selling a set of lies that painted sadism as love, plutocracy as opportunity, and racism as fairness. It worked. For thirty years, it worked. I watched the primaries with glee, because that mask was finally falling off. If Santorum had won, the GOP would be revealed as the party of bigotry. Romney won, and the GOP is being revealed as the party of robbing the poor to feed the rich.

    Nobody’s going to remember Reagan talking about welfare reform and a new economy anymore. They’re going to remember Mitt Romney bitching about how poor people are lazy.

  158. 158.

    Villago Delenda Est

    @Roger Moore:

    They’re not going to take political advice from total amateurs like you or me. They know better. Full steam ahead! Disregard those bogus iceberg warnings! We’ve got points to make on how uber we are!

  159. 159.

    ? Martin

    @SatanicPanic: I live in the purple parts of the county. Obama won my city by about 2%. The school district is pretty representative of that, I suspect. OC’s Republican base is really all along the coast now – the rich folks. That’s where Hugh Hewitt and the other assholes live.

  162. 162.

    LanceThruster

    @catclub:

    From the Prado, also too.

    This Bosch painting has always spoken to me. I remember first seeing an element of it (the far right panel) in a Time/Life book series, this particular one on the mind and mental illness. It had a wonderful photo series of a woman who was institutionalized for some sort of mental breakdown, and showed her progress with therapy and medication (she looked a little like a plain Jane Bettie Paige). As a child, I remember being so happy for her and the outcome as I thought it it would be horribly lonely and frightening to suffer a “broken brain.”

  163. 163.

    SatanicPanic

    @? Martin: I’ve spent some time in Huntington Beach, which seems like an odd mix of wealthy people and rednecks, so that fit right in with my idea of OC as Republican. Otherwise, the great expanse between Carlsbad and Los Angeles is pretty much a mystery to me.

  164. 164.

    Original Lee

    @hep kitty: It’s just so he can be the President and CEO of the Financial Services Roundtable. You have to line up those lobbying jobs BEFORE your campaign craters!

  165. 165.

    Pavonis

    Apparently, the Romney 47% video appeared on DailyKos (by an anonymous poster who claimed to be the creator of the video) before it was shown on MotherJones but got hide-rated into oblivion.

    I liked dKos much better in 2008 when people encouraged each other to get involved. Now, dKos can’t even get a game-changing video out there anymore. The Firebagger/Obot wars over the past 4 years have badly damaged the community. I blame the Firebaggers. They seemed to enjoy complaining more than effecting real-world change.

  166. 166.

    Suffern ACE

    @Villago Delenda Est: Where Scrooge, worried about the life of dependency for Tiny Tim and his disability, strangles the little boy for his own good and then eats his portion the Christmas goose.

  167. 167.

    Violet

    @Pavonis: ABL posted it here too. Then took it down. The put it back up. Then took it down. or something. It wasn’t verified, so it was the right decision, imho.

    Agree with you that the firebaggers are ridiculous. I get pushing the people on your side to be and do better, but the whole “Obama didn’t bring me a pony, I’m no voting for him” stuff is just sad. Did these people get everything they asked for for Christmas or something? Never had to work for anything?

  168. 168.

    Cmm

    @Roger Moore:

    This assumes they can keep the remaining Blue Dogs in line, which was a huge part of the problem with the previous Senate majority. There will be fewer of them this time, but they still will have disproportionate clout because of the need for every single D vote to move anything.

  170. 170.

    1badbaba3

    Chin up, people. Remember, four years ago CW was equally pessimistic about our chances for keeping the House and Senate. Grampy and Trampy dragged the whole ticket down with them. ’10 was a tactical retreat, a give ’em enough rope tactic, if you will, and the know-nothings did not disappoint, showing neither the ability, the wherewithal, nor the will to legislate and govern. We in the West equate retreat to weakness. Fortunately, our President and his team are much more well-rounded.

    Time to stock up on popcorn. Remember when Obama met with House Republicans at their Retreat in January of ’10, and he absolutely schooled them sans notes or teleprompter? Well the debates are going to be much worse, ‘cos they won’t take place on a news dump Friday.

    Hee hee hee.

  172. 172.

    1badbaba3

    Blue Dogs? Ha! 2010 took them in hand as well. Just ask Byah, and Lincoln about that. And do the names Altmire and Shuler ring a bell? We purge too, but much more quietly and smartly than the other team.

  173. 173.

    agorabum

    @Tom Levenson: Yeah! No apologies. One of my favorite Goyas. And perfect for today’s GOP (preserve benefits for the elderly, cut taxes on the rich who got theirs, and screw the future). They really do seek to devour their children…
    Also, the devouring of the Romenyfail…

  174. 174.

    BobS

    @ThatLeftTurnInABQ: I think this would make an effective commercial doing just that. Romney is introduced, and then there’s a voiceover of him delivering the 47% speech while photos or video of the 47% are shown with captions explaining their situations, e.g. the family of five living on $50K, old people living on Social Security, disabled vets, etc, with the sound raised a decibel or two when Romney gets to the part where he says “my job is not to worry about those people” (you could even raise “those people” another notch). Then a narrator asks “Gov/Sen/Rep John/Jane Doe supports Mitt Romney, but does Gov/Sen/Rep Doe support you?”

  176. 176.

    Dr. Loveless

    @gypsy howell:

    In my dreams, the Obama campaign is holding off with the really good stuff against Romney and the republican party until a few weeks before the election, and it will make this plutocratic parasite’s tape seem like a blip on the campaign trail.

    His oppo research team must be hating life right now. Every time they get ready to Release the Kraken, Mittens pre-empts them. It’s got to be frustrating.

  177. 177.

    Chris

    @Violet:

    Romney said his favorite actor is Gene Hackman and would like Hackman to play him

    Hackmann: “You got a stupid smile, Governor, you know that?”

  178. 178.

    LanceThruster

    @Chris:

    The actor that played Ted Baxter would be a good fit (he was the Caddyshack country club guy, too). Too bad he’s gone.

  181. 181.

    joes527

    @1badbaba3:

    ‘10 was a tactical retreat, a give ‘em enough rope tactic, if you will

    You gotta be kidding me.
    ’10 was a rout. Brought on by stupidity and cowardice. A disaster for the nation that has resulted in countless lost opportunities.

    Misremembering what happened 2 years ago is pathetic.

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